Friendly matches

There was the usual round of regional matches during the two week Christmas lay-off, with five teams taking on international opposition. The Valencia region were the first to kick off, and they were beaten for the first time in their brief history by Hristo Stoichkov's Bulgaria. The following day two goals from Yeste gave Euskadi a comfortable 2-0 win over Honduras, and the Basque side's neighbours Navarra beat Morrocco 2-1 A depleted Catalonia missing Puyol, Xavi and Luque were beaten 0-3 though by an Argentina team made up largely of players who ply their trade in Spain, and Andalusia could only draw 0-0 against Malta. (29.12.04)